University of Alaska – KNOM Radio Missionhttp://www.knom.org/wp
96.1 FM | 780 AM | Yours for Western AlaskaTue, 26 Sep 2017 18:12:37 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.259285469Despite Statewide Teacher Shortage, Nome Schools Start Year Stronghttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/08/21/despite-statewide-teacher-shortage-nome-schools-start-year-strong/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/08/21/despite-statewide-teacher-shortage-nome-schools-start-year-strong/#respondMon, 21 Aug 2017 20:43:24 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=30657As the new school year begins, all core classroom positions and most supporting positions have been filled at Nome Public Schools. But that's despite a trend of increasing difficulty in hiring teachers for rural Alaska. “It’s been a struggle,” Nome’s superintendent says.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2017/08/2017-08-21-teacherpositions.mp3

School begins today in Nome for grades 1–12, and despite a statewide teacher shortage, all core classroom positions and most supporting positions have been filled.

Nome Public Schools Superintendent Shawn Arnold said that around 260 positions remain unfilled throughout the state, mostly in rural Alaska. In Nome, there are a number of difficulties to filling positions, he says:

“It’s been a struggle. We’ve got a lower enrollment in the University of Alaska’s teacher preparation programs — some of the lowest there in recent memory. We have less applicants coming to the state. We have more teachers who have taught out of state or taught for some time within the state who are leaving and going to teach in the Lower 48.”

Arnold said it’s also a challenge if teachers depart later than the normal hiring season, in March and April, to then fill fall positions.

Arnold said economic conditions in the Lower 48 have improved more quickly than those in Alaska, and that as a result, Alaska teaching positions are not as competitive as they were in the past.

Around 20 years ago, Alaska positions actually offered some of the highest salaries in the United States, but salaries have not increased along with cost of living as much as they have in the Lower 48.

The upshot, Arnold said, is that teachers mostly come here because they want to, and that most of the hiring comes from within the state:

“We want people who want to be here. We want teachers who want to be in Alaska, and want to make a commitment, and are knowledgeable, too, about the region and about Nome Public Schools and about what it would be like. So we don’t want to hire someone who’s just looking for a job.”

The positions still unfilled include a junior high counselor, special education teacher, and teacher at the Nome Youth Facility. Arnold said the state budget’s release in June meant hiring for the last position had to be delayed, resulting in a shallower pool of applicants.

Photo at top: Marjorie Tahbone teaches an Inupiaq class at Nome-Beltz High School in 2014. Photo: KNOM, 2014.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/08/21/despite-statewide-teacher-shortage-nome-schools-start-year-strong/feed/030657UA Board of Regents Finalizes Facility Maintenance Capital Budgethttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/08/18/ua-board-of-regents-finalizes-facility-maintenance-capital-budget/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/08/18/ua-board-of-regents-finalizes-facility-maintenance-capital-budget/#respondFri, 18 Aug 2017 21:44:49 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=30629The University still faces a substantial deferred maintenance backlog, and did not get the full amount requested from the Legislature.]]>

The University of Alaska Board of Regents unanimously adopted the Fiscal Year ‘18 capital budget appropriation for facility maintenance projects at a special meeting last week, bringing the FY18 budget process to a close.

The university’s total FY18 facility maintenance investment is around $45 million — $5 million from the capital budget and around $40 million allocated from the university’s operating budget.

The board has repeatedly emphasized the importance of reducing the deferred maintenance backlog, and this year requested $50 million from the Legislature in an effort to address nearly $1 billion in deferred maintenance needs.

UA President Jim Johnsen expressed appreciation for the funding, but described the $5 million capital appropriation as underwhelming, saying, “I understand that the state is in a tough spot, but it is a disappointment given the great needs that we have and the commitment that the regents have made to this important priority.”

The University of Alaska owns and maintains more than 400 buildings around the state, totaling nearly 8 million gross square feet. The average age of UA’s facilities is around 32 years. The deferred maintenance investment will be used to address critical projects across the state.

Image at top: UAF Northwest Campus in Nome. Photo: KNOM.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/08/18/ua-board-of-regents-finalizes-facility-maintenance-capital-budget/feed/030629Last Season’s Difficulties for Diomede Auklets May Be a Sign of Changing Climatehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/06/22/last-seasons-difficulties-for-diomede-auklets-may-be-a-sign-of-changing-climate/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/06/22/last-seasons-difficulties-for-diomede-auklets-may-be-a-sign-of-changing-climate/#respondFri, 23 Jun 2017 00:24:45 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=29912An assistant professor at the University of Alaska–Fairbanks suspects that changes seen in the auklet population on Little Diomede may be related to changes in climate.]]>

Following changes in climate variability, one University of Alaska Fairbanks assistant professor has discovered surprising changes in the Little Diomede auklet population.

Working at Bethel’s Kuskokwim campus, Hector Douglas has been studying the crested auklet’s fluorescent pigment for more than a decade.

His most recent study on the pigment started in the summer of 2015. Douglas describes the sea birds that year as normal, saying, “the crested auklet is a bird you can hold in your hand. Overall, the body is a dark grey, a little brownish in the plumage, and during the breeding season, it has these bright orange bill plates.”

The next year, in June of 2016, when Douglas came back to finish his study, other changes in the population took hold of his attention.

What he saw was an unusual sight for the month of June. Attendance at the crested auklet’s breeding colonies had dropped by 35-50% from the previous year [2015].

In Douglas’ experience, crested auklets arrive to the island in June with bright orange bills, a signal that they’re ready to mate. But last year [2016] , the birds were coming later than expected, and their bills weren’t fully orange. Douglas doubts that these late-comers, who lay a single egg per season, could breed successfully.

“And to see those birds arriving in the latter part of July with this not fully acquired coloration suggests that these birds were distressed in some way,” says Douglas.

Auklets can cope with difficult conditions, like those that would spur a delayed arrival, by secreting corticosterone, a hormone that helps the animals mediate stress of certain types.

“And by ‘stress,’ I mean things like your energy balance.” Douglas adds, “And the amount of energy you need to mobilize from your fat stores to cope with the demands that your body requires.”

The corticosterone levels in auklets can give scientists a look into other facets of their life. In this instance, by looking at the hormone, scientists like Douglas can get an idea of possible nutritional stress the auklets may have experienced. Compared to the 2015 auklets, Douglas found an increased baseline corticosterone paired with a decrease of the carbon-13 isotope in blood samples. This suggests a decrease in zooplankton that auklet diets specialize in. When faced with a lack of their favorite food, rather than move onto a different type of food, Douglas thinks that the auklets may have varied their diet to include less nutritious zooplankton. But a lack of easy food availability can halt normal breeding activity. And in the auklet life cycle, Douglas says, consistency and good conditions are important.

“In terms of looking at a population, it is important to have successful years. So, what we need to be concerned about, if we’re continuing to see warming trends, how is that going to impact birds in terms of breeding? They have roles in nature, but they also supply humans with food.”

Douglas suspects the changes seen in the population may be related to variable changes in climate. In 2016, it was reported that a particularly strong surge of above-average temperature water called “the blob” also contributed to a mass disruption of Alaskan marine life.

And while experts may not be reporting a “blob”-like event this summer, National Weather Service climatologist Rick Thoman says current waters in the Northern Bering Sea have taken a departure from normal conditions.

“With summertime here, and the Alaska current flowing now bringing water from the Northeast Pacific into the Bering Sea, we’re likely to see those above-normal sea surface temperatures continue into the fall months, at least.”

The possible effects of these water temperatures on the 2017 auklet population are yet to be studied.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/06/22/last-seasons-difficulties-for-diomede-auklets-may-be-a-sign-of-changing-climate/feed/029912Seven Youth, One from Nome, Win University of Alaska Scholarship for Aspiring Teachershttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/05/25/3-western-alaska-youth-win-first-ever-ua-teach-for-alaska-presidential-scholarship/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/05/25/3-western-alaska-youth-win-first-ever-ua-teach-for-alaska-presidential-scholarship/#respondThu, 25 May 2017 19:41:56 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=29441Nome-Beltz High School senior Megan Contreras was among the recipients of the first-ever Teach for Alaska Presidential Scholarship last Friday. The award is being offered as a part of the University of Alaska’s “Drive the Change” public awareness initiative.]]>

Seven Alaskan high schoolers, three of them from western Alaska, were awarded the first-ever Teach for Alaska Presidential Scholarship on Friday. The award is being offered as a part of the University of Alaska’s “Drive the Change” public awareness initiative.

Nome-Beltz senior Megan Contreras was just one of the Alaskan youth to win the presidential scholarship. “She’s been our board representative this year, head of the student government, but she’s going to be pursuing the education career pathway,” said Superintendent Shawn Arnold. “Who knows? Maybe one day [Megan] will be sitting in this chair as Superintendent!”

Bobbi Storms and Elanor Ruchti of Galena also won the scholarship, alongside aspiring educators from Kodiak, Kenny Lake, and Angoon.

The seven finalists didn’t know they had won the award until they had individual video chats with University President Jim Johnsen. “Providing support and an educational path for Alaska’s future teachers is just one of the ways the university can continue to drive change in our state,” said Johnsen.

To qualify for the award, Contreras and this year’s recipients sent in video submissions explaining why they wanted to pursue an educational degree and what they wanted to accomplish as a teacher.

]]>http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2017/05/25/3-western-alaska-youth-win-first-ever-ua-teach-for-alaska-presidential-scholarship/feed/029441AMSEA Course to Offer Educators a Boost in Marine Safetyhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/12/28/amsea-course-to-offer-educators-a-boost-in-marine-safety/
Thu, 29 Dec 2016 01:17:50 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=26952Through non-profit Alaska Marine Safety Education (AMSEA), teachers around the state can continue their education online and learn about cold weather survival skills in a course that starts January 30.]]>

Through the non-profit Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA), teachers around the state can continue their education online and learn about cold weather survival skills. An upcoming course puts the focus on marine safety, in particular.

Titled “Cold Water Safety and Survival Training for Educators,” AMSEA is offering the online course through the University of Alaska–Southeast. Rick Peterson, training coordinator with AMSEA, says it helps educators and people who work with children to lead cold water survival and safety training.

Peterson comments that the organization focuses on getting the message to kids. By the time they’re adults, he says they’ve already created hard-to-change habits. “We’re trying to have kids grow up to be safety-conscious adults when they’re mature enough to do their own adventures or jobs.” Peterson recalls Alaska’s history with drowning-related accidents, citing that the state used to have 10 times the national average.

One way AMSEA aims to reduce that rate is by adding to its existing network of instructors across the state. Anyone can become an AMSEA instructor, but Peterson likes teachers because they already have access to kids. And through this course, teachers or participants can learn how to teach kids proper safety techniques for a variety of topics, including risk assessment, rescue techniques, outdoor preparedness, and hypothermia.

The online cold-water safety and survival training for educators is $595 and starts January 30th.

]]>26952Sen. Donny Olson Gains Staff, Focuses On Power Cost Equalizationhttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2016/03/08/sen-donny-olsons-office-expands-focuses-on-pce/
Tue, 08 Mar 2016 22:04:37 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=21469Senator Donny Olson joined Republicans in the Senate majority last month, and with that move came funds for one more staffer. ]]>

Senator Donny Olson joined Republicans in the Senate majority last month, and with that move came funds for one more staffer. Sen. Olson, a Democrat from Golovin, brought on a former employee who has a long history in the Alaska Legislature.

“I hired my former chief of staff, David Gray, who has been working in the legislature for more than thirty years,” Sen. Olson explained.

Gray’s resume includes work with former Senator and Alaska Native rights advocate Willie Hensley, former Kotzebue lawmaker and Alaska Native leader Frank Ferguson, and current Sen. Lyman Hoffman of Bethel.

Gray was in retirement when Olson got the funds for one more staffer. Gray is now working part time on specialized projects and makes $49 per hour.

Sen. Olson said he made sure his fellow Democrats weren’t affected by his move.

“I made sure the minority caucus, the friends and colleagues I have there, the other Democrats, did not lose any staff, did not lose their press person, did not lose their webmaster, and they were still able to continue on,” Sen. Olson reassured.

Minority leader Sen. Berta Gardner confirmed her caucus did not lose any resources with Olson’s move to the majority. She said they remain on good terms with Olson.

“We have had no falling out with him. It’s nothing to do with our caucus. It’s about how he can best advocate for the needs of his district, and that is what every legislator is called to do.”

Senator Gardner said Olson’s move is understandable, since certain projects are more pressing in rural Alaska.

“In Alaska, what matters to rural legislators is capital projects,” Gardner explained. “Capital is the difference between clean water and not having clean water, or sewage, or new schools.”

One capital project Olson is focusing on is the Power Cost Equalization, or PCE, project, which helps people afford the high cost of energy in rural Alaska. Olson’s newest staffer, David Gray, is working to preserve funding for the PCE amidst state budget cuts.

The House Finance Committee is considering taking more than $24 million from the PCE fund to help refinance the University of Alaska budget.

Well-respected Alaska Native writer Ernestine Hayes teaches writing for the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau.

(NOME, AK) – Alaska Native author Ernestine Hayes was in Nome to present a writing workshop and to discuss her work Monday night. The author is known for writing that weaves together her life experience and Alaska Native folklore.

She sat down with KNOM’s Maddie Winchester to talk about her work and her creative process. Hayes says Alaska Native involvement in the literary arts is ‘insufficient.’

In that regard, Hayes said her newest book Tao of Raven draws from the well-known Alaska Native story about Raven and the box of daylight.

“He tricked his way into an old man’s house and stole the boxes of light – his grandfather’s treasure – that were in that house.”

She said her own life experience is also part of the story.

“We never hear it from the perspective of that brokenhearted grandparent and what they must have felt when Raven stole their treasure and left them,” she explained. “I became a grandmother, and I realized there was more to that story than simply something to entertain a child.”

Hayes and her mother moved from Southeast Alaska to California when she was fifteen. She has said the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act is what drew her back to the state after a 25-year absence – an experience she connects to another well-known story.

“It came to me, after I came back to Juneau, that the story of the woman who married a bear, who was gone for such a long time and returned, was one of the metaphors of my life,” said Hayes. “It’s difficult to know whether it would have been a good thing to change that metaphor.”

Born near Juneau, Ernestine Hayes is a member of the Tlingit Kaagwaataan clan. She was in Nome to present her work.

*This story was reported with help from Emily Russell and Maddie Winchester.

]]>21004Cheaper Courses at Northwest Campus After $14k NSEDC Granthttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/09/22/cheaper-courses-at-northwest-campus-after-14k-nsedc-grant/
Tue, 22 Sep 2015 15:50:39 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=18563More than a dozen 1-credit courses are about 40 percent cheaper this fall after a grant from Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation.]]>

It’s not too late to register for classes at Northwest Campus, and this semester, many one-credit courses will come a little cheaper, thanks to a $14,000 grant from the Norton Sound Economic Development Corporation.

The grant goes to NSEDC member communities throughout the region to fund community-based training courses. This fall, Northwest Campus is applying Nome’s funds to the discounted courses.

Carol Gales—the program development manager at Nome’s Northwest Campus—says the NSEDC award comes during a period of financial belt-tightening across the University of Alaska. She says the help comes at just the right time.

“One-credit tuition rose this semester to $193, so it was a good time to seek this funding from NSEDC,” Gales said. “With the number of classes we’re anticipating and the number of students we’re anticipating taking the classes, we could get tuition reduced to $115 dollars for those Nome classes.”

That’s a savings of nearly $80 for a one-credit course, and for two-credit courses, that’s a savings of nearly $160 dollars, bringing the price of those classes down from $386 to $230.

That means more than a dozen courses at NWC are nearly 40 percent cheaper.

“Two ceramics classes, there’s one early in this semester and then one later in the semester,” Gales listed. “The modern-day kuspuk sewing class is going to be back with Michelle Koenig. The ATV maintenance and repair class. Jackie Hrabok-Leppäjärvi is going to be teaching beading on a loom workshop … those are all discounted with this NSEDC funding.”

They’re all discounted, but that’s not all of the classes on offer. Some are still accepting students, including courses like making leather mittens with beaded tops, fish skin tanning, and introduction to drawing. Some courses are still setting dates for October or November. Others have yet to be announced.

While many of the classes relate to local crafts, Gales says the courses on offer include job skills, too.

“The courses being funded through this project aren’t just for fun or even just for personal fulfillment. In a lot of cases these are skills you can learn to help you get a job, or they are skills you can use to make a crafted items and sell. And there’s a lot of selling and buying of crafted items in this region. So you can learn skills that can help you supplement your income.”

]]>18563Rural Alaska Honors Institute Graduates 59 studentshttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/07/09/rural-alaska-honors-institute-graduates-59-students/
Thu, 09 Jul 2015 21:20:07 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=17311The program offers six weeks of college-credit courses and prepares students to adjust academically and socially to college life. ]]>

Fifty-nine Alaska Native high school juniors and seniors graduate on July 9 from the Rural Alaska Honors Institute. RAHI offers six weeks of college-credit courses—preparing students to adjust academically and socially to college life.

A study by the American Institutes for Research concluded that, compared to other rural Alaska Native students who enroll at the University of Alaska, students who have attended RAHI are twice as likely to earn a bachelor’s degree. Students in the program also tend to perform better academically, according to grade point averages measured by the research.

During the six-week program, RAHI students take classes in English, library science, emergency management team building, reading and study skills. They also choose from electives in process technology, business, chemistry and math. And for physical education, classes are offered in karate, yoga and Alaska Native dance. RAHI research students study organic chemistry and are paired with a mentor to perform research.

Students live on campus in Fairbanks and earn up to 10 college credits through the program. This year’s class came from 34 communities around the state.

RAHI was created by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1983, at the request of the Alaska Federation of Natives. At tomorrow’s graduation ceremony, the keynote address will be given by 1989 RAHI graduate Kathy Milligan-Myhre. She is originally from Kotzebue, and after completing post-doctorate study in microbiology, Milligan-Myhre will join the faculty at UAA.

Students attend RAHI at no cost and their travel expenses are paid for. An application for the program can be found on the University of Alaska Fairbanks website.

]]>17311Opera Student Brings Rare Musical Performance to Nomehttp://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/01/19/opera-student-brings-rare-musical-performance-to-nome/
http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2015/01/19/opera-student-brings-rare-musical-performance-to-nome/#commentsMon, 19 Jan 2015 18:19:44 +0000http://www.knom.org/wp/?p=14044Nome hosted a unique performance this week when Kira Eckenweiler, an opera student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, shared her talent with a local audience.]]>http://www.knom.org/wp-audio/2015/01/2015-01-16-opera-singer.mp3

Nome hosted a unique performance this week when Kira Eckenweiler, an opera student at the University of Alaska Anchorage, shared her talent with a local audience.

For the 21-year-old soprano from Unalakleet, there was never a question of pursuing opera. She said she simply fell in love with the challenge.

“I just enjoy singing it,” said Eckenweiler. “It’s a challenge vocally. I’m just in awe every time I hear opera singers perform because they’re using so much of their body. So much strength to sing all those pieces.”

Listening to Kira sing, it’s easy to hear where the art and athleticism of opera overlap. On her recent visit to Nome, the soprano performed a handful of songs — from Broadway composer Leonard Bernstein, to the Italian master Donizetti.

When asked whether there was a type of role that she’s most drawn to, Kira said she enjoys all forms of opera.

“I love the dramas because they’re so powerful and moving,” Eckenweiler said. “But comedies are just fun, too. I love being funny and goofy.”

That goofy humor comes across in her rendition of the song “Glitter and Be Gay” from the operetta Candide. In it, the singer primps and adorns herself with jewelry — belting out ever more enthusiastic notes.

In addition to showcasing Kira’s incredible technical ability — it’s one of the toughest arias in opera — the song highlights her playful side.

“Ivory and baleen rings,” she croons, substituting lyrics that speak to her Alaskan roots. “Ah, how can worldly things…take the place of honor lost?”

Eckenweiler spoke to KNOM about her latest project: A leading role with the Anchorage Opera. In April, the soprano will perform as aging diva Madame Heartmelt in Mozart’s comedy The Impresario.

“I’m having a hard time with this new role, actually,” said Eckenweiler. “I’m playing an old lady so I have to act like an old diva [and] be really full of myself. I’m completely opposite from her! So maybe I’m going to have to watch some divas out there and learn from them.”

Besides looking toward her own role models for guidance, Kira doesn’t mind paying it forward. On her brief visit to Nome, the singer made a special trip to Nome-Beltz Junior-Senior High School – where she spoke with a group of aspiring musicians.

When asked what she tells other young musicians, Eckenweiler said: “You should love what you do. So if you love music, I think you should — yeah. Go for it!”